Editing Timeline of Jewish history (section)

== Middle Ages ==

===8th century===
;700–1250: Period of the [[Gaonim]] (the Gaonic era). Most Jews lived in the [[Muslim]] Arab realm (Andalusia, North Africa, Palestine, Iraq and Yemen), others living in Christian southern Europe and Asia Minor. Despite general discrimination and sporadic periods of persecution in this period, Jewish communal and cultural life flowered. The universally recognized centers of Jewish life were in [[Jerusalem]] and [[Tiberias]] (Syria),  [[Sura (city)|Sura]] and [[Pumbeditha]] (Iraq). The heads of these law schools were the ''Gaonim'', who were consulted on matters of law by Jews throughout the world. During this time, the [[Niqqud]] is invented in Tiberias.

;711: [[Ummayad]] armies [[Muslim conquest of the Iberian Peninsula|invade and occupy most of Spain]] (at this time Jews made up about 8% of [[Spain]]'s population). Under [[Visigothic Kingdom|Visigothic rule]], Jews had been subject to frequent and intense persecution, which was formalized under Muslim rule due to the [[dhimmi]] rules in Islam. Jews and Christians had to pay the [[jizya]]. Some sources mark this as the beginning of the [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]], although most mention 912.

;740: The [[Khazars|Khazar]] (a [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] semi-[[nomad]]ic people from [[Central Asia]]) King and members of the upper class adopt [[Judaism]]. The Khazarate lasts until 10th century, being overrun by the Rus, and finally conquered by Rus and Byzantine forces in 1016.

;760: The [[Karaite (Jewish sect)|Karaites]] reject the authority of the oral law, and split off from rabbinic Judaism.

===9th century===
;807: [[Abbasid]] [[Caliph]] [[Harun al-Rashid]] orders all Jews in the Caliphate to wear a [[zunnar|yellow belt]], with Christians to wear a blue one.

;846: In Sura, Iraq, Rav [[Amram Gaon]] compiles his siddur (Jewish prayer book.)

;850: [[al-Mutawakkil]] made a decree ordering [[dhimmi]] Jews and Christians to wear garments distinguishing them from Muslims,<ref name="Stillman">{{cite book |last1=Stillman |first1=Norman |title=Arab Dress, A Short History: From the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times |date=8 June 2022 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-49162-5 |pages=104–106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUB0EAAAQBAJ |access-date=3 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref> their places of worship to be destroyed, and allowing them little involvement in government or official matters.

;871: An incomplete marriage contract dated to October 6 of this year is the earliest dated document found in the papers of the [[Cairo Geniza]].

;888: The [[Aghlabids]] require ''dhimmis'' in the Maghreb and Sicily to wear a patch ([[shikla|ruq'a]]) of white fabric on the shoulder of their outer garment, with the patch for Jews being in the image of an ape.<ref name="Stillman" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Simonsohn |first1=Šelomō |title=The Jews in Sicily: 383-1300 |date=1997 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-10977-3 |page=xxiv |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLgr_TuHaYUC |access-date=3 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

===10th century===
;912–1013: The [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]]. [[Abd-ar-Rahman III]] becomes Caliph of [[Spain]] in 912, ushering in the height of tolerance. Muslims granted Jews and Christians exemptions from military service, the right to their own courts of law, and a guarantee of safety of their property. Jewish poets, scholars, scientists, statesmen and philosophers flourished in and were an integral part of the extensive Arab civilization. This period ended with the [[Siege of Córdoba (1013)|Cordoba massacre in 1013]].

;940: In [[Iraq]], [[Saadia Gaon]] compiles his [[siddur]] (Jewish prayer book).

;945: In the [[Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia]], the Senate forbids sea captains from accepting Jewish passengers.

===11th century===
;1008–1013: [[Caliph]] [[Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] ("the Mad") issues severe restrictions against Jews in the [[Fatimid Caliphate]]. All Jews are forced to wear a heavy wooden [[Yellow badge|"golden calf"]] around their necks. Christians have to wear a large wooden cross and members of both groups had to wear black hats.<ref name="Stillman" />

;1013: During the fall of the city, Sulayman's troops [[Siege of Córdoba (1013)|looted Córdoba]] and massacred citizens of the city, including many Jews. Prominent Jews in Córdoba, such as [[Samuel ibn Naghrela]] were forced to flee to the city in 1013.

;1013–1073: Rabbi Yitchaki Alfassi (from [[Morocco]], later Spain) writes the ''Rif'', an important work of [[Halakha|Jewish law]].

;1016: The Jewish community of [[Kairouan]], Tunisia is forced to choose between conversion and expulsion.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nafziger|first1=George F.|last2=Walton|first2=Mark W.|title=Islam at War: A History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7U0hY3wtXe4C&pg=PA230|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-98101-3|page=230}}</ref>

;1033: Following their conquest of the city from the Maghrawa tribe, the forces of Tamim, chief of the Zenata Berber Banu Ifran tribe, perpetrated a [[1033 Fez massacre|massacre of Jew]]s in Fez.

;1040–1105: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki ([[Rashi]]) writes important commentaries on almost the entire Tanakh and Talmud.

;1066 December 30: [[1066 Granada massacre|Granada massacre]]: Muslim mob stormed the royal palace in [[Granada]],  [[crucifixion|crucified]] Jewish [[vizier]] [[Joseph ibn Naghrela]] and massacred most of the Jewish population of the city. "More than 1,500 Jewish families, numbering 4,000 persons, fell in one day."<ref>[http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=412&letter=G&search=Granada Granada] by Richard Gottheil, [[Meyer Kayserling]], ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''. 1906 ed.</ref>

;1090: Granada was captured by [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]], King of the [[Almoravides]]. The Jewish community, believed to have sided with the Christians, was destroyed. Many fled, penniless, to Christian [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishhistory.org.il/history.php?startyear=1090&endyear=1099|title=Jewish History 1090–1099|website=jewishhistory.org.il|access-date=23 November 2017}}</ref>

;1095–1291: Christian [[Crusades]] begin, sparking warfare with Islam in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]]. Crusaders temporarily capture Jerusalem in 1099. Tens of thousands of Jews are killed by European crusaders throughout Europe and in the Middle East.

===12th century===
;1100–1275: Time of the ''tosafot'', Talmudic commentators who carried on [[Rashi]]'s work. They include some of his descendants.

;1107: Moroccan [[Almoravid]] ruler [[Yusuf ibn Tashfin]] expels Moroccan Jews who do not convert to Islam.

;1135–1204: Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, aka [[Maimonides]] or the [[Rambam]] is the leading rabbi of [[Sephardi]]c Jewry. Among his many accomplishments, he writes one of the most influential codes of law (The [[Mishneh Torah]]) in Jewish History as well as, in [[Arabic language|Arabic]], many philosophical works including the ([[Guide for the Perplexed]]).

;1141: [[Yehuda Halevi]] issues a call to the Jews to emigrate to Palestine. He is buried in Jerusalem.

;1150–1230: The [[Almohads]] conquer southern Spain and the Magrheb. As they do not regocnise the typical dhimmi status of Jews and Christians, they often force them to chose between conversion and death. They also reintroduce the ''shikla'' and force the converted Jews to also wear differentiating clothing as they do not trust their sincerity. [[Maimonides#Biography|Maimonides]] leaves Cordoba around 1160.<ref name="Taieb-Carlen">{{cite book |last1=Taieb-Carlen |first1=Sarah |title=The Jews of North Africa: From Dido to De Gaulle |date=23 February 2010 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-5044-1 |pages=29–31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9txi3xuuENcC |access-date=2 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Roth |first1=Norman |title=Medieval Jewish Civilization: An Encyclopedia |date=8 April 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-77155-2 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8edQAwAAQBAJ |access-date=4 October 2024 |language=en |chapter=Almohads}}</ref>

;1176: [[Maimonides]] completed his Introduction to the ''[[Mishneh Torah]]''.

;1187: Upon the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin summons the Jews and permits them to resettle in the city.<ref>Scharfstein and Gelabert, 1997, p. 145.</ref> In particular, the residents of Ashkelon, a large Jewish settlement, respond to his request.<ref>Rossoff, 2001, p. 6.</ref>

;1189: [[Jacob of Orléans]] slain in antisemitic riots that swept through London during the coronation of [[King Richard I]]. The king later punished the perpetrators of the crime.

;1190: 150 Jews of York, England, killed in a [[pogrom]], known as the ''[[York Massacre]]''.

===13th century===
;1240: Jews living in England, under [[Henry III of England|King Henry III]], were blamed for counterfeiting the money and when the local citizens began to exact revenge on them, the king expelled his Jewish subjects in order to save them from harm.<ref>[[Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph|Gedaliah Ibn Yechia]], ''Shalshelet Ha-Kabbalah''</ref>

;1249–1250: The [[Hafsid dynasty|Hafsid]] caliph in the Magrheb and the [[Ayyubid Sultanate|Ayyubid sultan]] of Egypt issue decrees that Jews and Christians to wear a dinstinguishing badge. The so-called [[shikla]] continues to be in use for [[Tunisian Jews]] into the nineteenth century.<ref name="Stillman1">{{cite book |last1=Stillman |first1=Norman |title=Arab Dress, A Short History: From the Dawn of Islam to Modern Times |date=8 June 2022 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-49162-5 |pages=110,114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUB0EAAAQBAJ |access-date=3 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

;1250–1300: The life of [[Moses de Leon]], of Spain. He publishes to the public the [[Zohar]] the 2nd century CE esoteric interpretations of the Torah by [[Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai]] and his disciples. Thus begins the evolution of modern [[Kabbalah]] (esoteric Jewish mysticism).

;1250–1550: Period of the ''[[Rishonim]]'', the medieval rabbinic sages. Most Jews at this time lived in lands bordering the [[Mediterranean Sea]] or in [[Western Europe]] under feudal systems. With the decline of Muslim and Jewish centers of power in [[Iraq]], there was no single place in the world which was a recognized authority for deciding matters of Jewish law and practice. Consequently, the rabbis recognized the need for writing commentaries on the [[Torah]] and Talmud and for writing law codes that would allow Jews anywhere in the world to be able to continue living in the Jewish tradition.

;1267: [[Nachmanides]] (Ramban) settles in Jerusalem and builds the [[Ramban Synagogue]].

;1270–1343: Rabbi [[Jacob ben Asher]] of Spain writes the ''[[Arba'ah Turim]]'' (Four Rows of Jewish Law).

;1276: Massacre in [[Fez, Morocco|Fez]] to kill all Jews stopped by intervention of the Emir.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1eqtODKlq1cC&pg=459|title=Roudh el-Kartas: Histoire des souverains du Maghreb (Espagne et Maroc) et annales de la ville de Fès|first1=ʻAlī ibn ʻAbd Allāh Ibn Abī Zarʻ|last1=al-Fāsī|first2=Ṣāliḥ ibn ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm|last2=al-Gharnāṭī|date=23 November 1860|publisher=Impr. impériale}}</ref>

;1290: Jews are expelled from [[England]] by [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] after the banning of [[usury]] in the 1275 ''[[Statute of Jewry]]''.

===14th century===
[[File:Pottery artifacts Synagogue Sopron Hungary.jpg|thumb|Pottery in the museum of the synagogue of Sopron, [[Hungary]], built around 1300.]]
;1300: Rabbi Levi ben Gershom, aka [[Gersonides]]. A 14th-century French Jewish philosopher best known for his ''Sefer Milhamot Adonai'' ("The Book of the Wars of the Lord") as well as for his philosophical commentaries.

;1304–1394: Jews are repeatedly expelled from [[France]] and readmitted, for a price.

;1343: Jews persecuted in Western Europe are invited to [[Poland]] by [[Casimir III of Poland|Casimir the Great]].

;1346–1353: Jews scapegoated as the cause of the growing [[Black Death]]. See also [[Medieval antisemitism#The Black Death|Medieval antisemitism]]

;1348: [[Pope Clement VI]] issued two papal bulls in 1348 (6 July and 26 September), the latter named ''Quamvis Perfidiam'', which condemned the violence and said those who blamed the plague on the Jews had been "seduced by that liar, the Devil."<ref name=Skolnik1>{{cite book|last1=Skolnik|first1=Fred|last2=Berenbaum|first2=Michael|title=Encyclopaedia Judaica: Ba-Blo|publisher=Granite Hill Publishers|isbn=978-0-02-865931-2|page=733|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vKoUAQAAIAAJ|date=2007}}</ref> He urged clergy to take action to protect Jews as he had done.

;1349: Several hundred Jews are publicly burned to death in the [[Strasbourg massacre]].

;1350s: Genetic testing conducted on [[Ashkenazi Jews]] has pointed to a bottleneck in the 1300s in the Ashkenazi Jewish population where it dwindled down to as few as 250–420 people.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2014/09/ashkenazi-jewish-population-has-distinctive-yet-similar-genomes/ |date = 23 September 2014 |title = Ashkenazi Jewish population has distinctive, yet similar genomes |first = Diana |last = Gitig |website = Ars Technica}}</ref>

;1369–70: Civil war in Spain, between brothers [[Peter of Castile]] (Pedro) and [[Henry II of Castile]] (Enrique), leads to the deaths of 38,000 Jews, embroiled in the conflict.<ref>[[Abraham Zacuto]], ''Sefer Yuchasin'', [[Kraków]] 1580 (q.v. [https://www.hebrewbooks.org/11550 ''Sefer Yuchasin''], electronic page 265 (in PDF) (Hebrew).</ref><ref>[[Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph|Gedaliah ibn Jechia]] the Spaniard, ''Shalshelet ha-Kabbalah'', Jerusalem 1962, p. 140 (in Hebrew), who puts the number of Jewish deaths in this conflict at 28,000.</ref>

===15th century===
;1428: The [[Marinid sultanate|Marinid sultan]] confines the Jewish population to the [[mellah of Fez]] due to the increasing hostility of the Muslim population. The [[mellah]]s of other towns of Morocco, all of which are established later under the Saadians and the Alawids, are founded with the express intent of ostracism and isolating Jews rather than protection.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stillman |first1=Norman A. |title=The Jews of Arab Lands |date=1979 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |isbn=978-0-8276-1155-9 |pages=79–81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFN2ismyhEYC |access-date=2 October 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Taieb-Carlen" />

;1465: During the [[1465 Moroccan revolution]] which overthrows the [[Marinid dynasty]], the Jewish [[mellah]] is attacked by the population of Fez, though the extent of the massacre is debated.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stillman |first1=Norman A. |title=The Jews of Arab Lands |date=1979 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |isbn=978-0-8276-1155-9 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bFN2ismyhEYC |access-date=30 September 2024 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=García-Arenal |first1=Mercedes |title=The revolution of Fās in 869/1465 and the death of Sultan 'Abd al-ḥaqq al-Marīnī |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies |date=1 January 1978 |volume=41 |pages=43–76 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00057773 |url=https://www.academia.edu/1382306}}</ref>

;1478:[[Catholic Monarchs|King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella]] of Spain institute the [[Spanish Inquisition]].

;1486: First Jewish prayer book published in Italy.

;1488–1575: Rabbi [[Yosef Karo]] spends 20 years compiling the Beit Yosef, an enormous guide to Jewish law. He then writes a more concise guide, the [[Shulkhan Arukh]], that becomes the standard law guide for the next 400 years. Born in Spain, Yosef Karo lives and dies in [[Safed]].

;1488: [[Obadiah ben Abraham]], commentator on the [[Mishnah]], arrives in Jerusalem and marks a new epoch for the Jewish community.

;1492: The [[Alhambra Decree]]: Approximately 200,000 Jews are expelled from Spain, The expelled Jews relocate to the [[Netherlands]], [[Turkey]], [[Arab]] lands, and [[Judea]]; some eventually go to South and Central America. However, most emigrate to Poland. In later centuries, more than 50% of Jewish world population lived in Poland. Many Jews remain in Spain after publicly converting to Christianity, becoming [[Crypto-Judaism|Crypto-Jews]].

;1492: [[Bayezid II]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] issued a formal invitation to the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal and sent out ships to safely bring Jews to his empire.

;1493: Jews expelled from Sicily. As many as 137,000 exiled.

;1496: Jews expelled from [[Portugal]] and from many German cities.